


My thoughts on Lady's Guide (spoilers)

by crowley_is_a_queen



Category: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue Series - Mackenzi Lee
Genre: Comedy, Gen, do not click on this if you don't want to read something negative, help me, my thoughts are so jumbled, this is a rant, this is negative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2020-07-08 01:41:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19861441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowley_is_a_queen/pseuds/crowley_is_a_queen
Summary: this is just a rantenjoy





	1. Chapter 1

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy is one of the worst books I have ever read in my entire life. 

And before you leave a comment like “Shut up, it’s a perfect book!” 

Here’s why you’re wrong.

The way I would describe the first book is an adventure that takes unexpected twists and turns and surprises you on every page. The way I would describe the second book is a trash fire hellmouth where happy thoughts go to die.

On its own, the book would be fine. Not something I would personally buy and read, but I’m not its core audience so that makes sense. 

When I first found GG (Gentleman’s Guide, duh), I was so excited when I found out there was a Felicity sequel. In GG, Felicity represents a character type that I relate to. Second child who gets overlooked, loves reading and learning and is treated unfairly due to her gender. Although I have no interest in a medical profession, so that’s one key difference. 

I started reading LG (Lady’s Guide, duh) and couldn’t get though the first chapter. It presents a dull new character (Callum I think) and has a graphic medical description that I wish I could unread. So I put down the book and decided to read it at a later time.

Months later, in May of 2019, I started over. And, wowza, I was disappointed. In my opinion, Felicity worked much better as a secondary character who could banter with Monty and Percy. Her perspective on things in basically “Men suck, I wanna be a doctor, I don’t wanna marry bakery guy, my brother is an idiot” Unlike Monty in the first book, she doesn’t really… learn anything or have a satisfying character arch. She starts the book being a feminist who wants to be a doctor and that’s how she ends the book.

Earlier I mentioned how if this hadn’t been a GG sequel, it could have been a compelling femenism story. But by making it a sequel, it’s held up to the standard of GG. It made me wonder why we couldn’t get a Percy sequel (possibly prequel) about his life, his feelings for Monty (requited or unrequited, depending if it’s a prequel), his epilepsy, and being a gay black man in the 1700s. 

Now let’s get into the meat of the book. What’s it about?

In summary: Percy gets shot, Monty has a stupid hat, Felicity wants to be a doctor, Sim is a lesbian, Joanna has a crush on Percy, sea dragons…? , the doctor is evil and also is a drug addict I think, Monty saves the day by being a white man (totally not recycled from the first book in the pirates/french navy scene cough cough), Percy has epilepsy, Felicity wants to be a doctor did I say that already, Callum is totally snubbed (Felicity writes a letter to him at the end of the book, just like in GG, but instead of being addressed to a meaningful person who caused her pain and made her an alcoholic who sleeps around, bringing closure to the whole book, it’s addressed to some guy who’s in one scene and is never seen again. Seems legit), Sim is way cooler of a character but I don’t want a sequel about her don’t even think about it ML!, Felicity wants to be a doctorrrrrrrr, they sew a map into a dress wtf is this book, wax shop, Sim gets stabbed I think, Monty gets pushed into the ocean (what a nice sister Felicity is), PERCY GETS FUCKING SHOT, Alexander Platt is evil (ik I said that already but the book really hammers it in like it’s a twist *it’s not that’s literally the plot of every superhero movie ever*), Felicity is asexual I guess I really wanted a lesbians book but guess not ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯, Monty is in lovvvve (fucking shoot me), Monty’s weird hat is now soaked in Percy’s blood how romantic, Sim has a pretty depressing family life, nothing is resolved at the end omg how

There ya go. Comment if you agree, comment if you disagree. I’d love to chat about it.


	2. Update

So people decided to comment on the first chapter with things I was aware of... Yes I know goodreads exists. Yes I posted this there. If I'm being honest, people feeling upset that this rant doesn't mix with their positive fandom vibes, they have to be aware that they didn't have to click on this. It literally said "Just a rant" and in the first sentence I say I hate the book. If it's not your jam, leave. A lot of people think Lady's Guide is really good, I get that. Opinions are opinions and everyone is allowed to have them. On goodreads, I was shot down for having a negative opinion. And the comments on the rant said that goodreads is my place to share opinions. Clearly it's not. I've only found three other people in the world that have posted about disliking Lady's Guide. I also don't use tumblr or twitter so I can't post it there. The only other "social media" I consume is Wattpad, which is a cesspool, let's be honest. In conclusion, I'm leaving this up. Sharing an opinion in a "positive space" should not diminish people's enthusiasm. Enjoy things, write lesbian fics, live life. But please don't shoot down others in a "polite" way, because it really doesn't help.  
  


Thanks!


	3. Revisiting This

Hi.  
I just want to add something that I feel wasn't totally clear in my last message. The characters of this book/series mean a lot to me. I have read both books numerous times because my love for the characters within them overpowers my feeling toward the content. I feel as though Felicity changed quite a bit in character between the first and second book. I understand it's her perspective, but it's more than that. To me, it was a drastic change. (Same with Monty, but he's newly recovered from alcoholism so it makes more sense that he would be more well mannered)  
I thought Percy getting shot was unnecessary and purely done for shock value, which felt more like a cash grab on Mackenzi Lee's part. (I may be wrong in thinking that, but it's how it felt to me)  
My idea in posting this was to make people laugh, but I know it was a bit brutal to those who want ao3 to be a happy, safe space for fandoms.  
I will maintain my stance that this doesn't have to be and shouldn't be deleted. Sometimes opinions aren't positive, but I deserve to have a voice. Goodreads is not a place I feel welcome. I don't have other social media that has similar fandom space.  
Sorry if you don't like my opinion or my ideas or my feelings. These characters mean a lot to me and seeing them in such a setting and with such a difference of their former personalities hurts me a lot. 

Sincerely,  
A book nerd


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